A Work In Progress
by Konsui's Little Brother
Summary: AU The group was suppossed to be for people that fought in the war, not for brats that couldn't even be old enough to enroll. They just can't figure out why that blonde kid, the one with the eyes that make him seem older than he is, is there. Not Roy/Ed.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: The first multi-chaptered story that I've written in a while. I'm not positive where it's going but I can tell you now that it's not a Roy/Ed. If I have anybody paired with Ed, it would be Envy. Or maybe Havok. As it is, the only pairing that I've decided on is Riza/Barry because I love them.

Disclaimer: If I owned FMA than Hughes and Barry would still be alive, Ling would play a bigger role, and that annoying thief created for the anime would have already been ripped to shreds.

* * *

Mustang had been coming to this little...Group...(He hated to call it by ti's name because he was loathe to admit to anyone, even the rest of the people here, that he needed to be in therapy) For almost two and a half years now.

Dr. King Bradley had started the group therapy sessions almost three years ago. He had originally only opened it to the soldiers that fought in the Ishbal War, which had been going on for almost two centuries when it ended, but it had recently been opened to the families of those that died in the war as well. Not that much changed.

It had been four months since the change in who Bradley would treat had happened and the group, already seated in their usual spots, was exactly the same as when Mustang first joined it.

Second Liutanent Riza Hawkeye was in her seat, which was next to his own. Her dog, Black Hayate, was laying at her feet. Hawkeye had been one of the most accomplished snipers that the Amestrian Military had ever gotten their hands on. Right before the war ended, exactly eighteen days before the truce was made, the woman had taken a blast of shrapnel to the face. She hadn't been able to see since then.

Beside the Second Lt. was Warrant Officer Jean Havok. The younger man had been bound to a wheel-chair after an enemy invaded his base and stabbed him twice in the torso. His spinal cord had been severed almost completely and it would take years of therapy to walk; if he ever walked again.

Warrant Officer Vato Falman, the oldest of the group, was gifted with an almost pefect memory. He had been inside of a building when Ishvarlin soldiers bombed it. He was now suffering from severe panic attacks most of which were brought on by loud noises.

Second Lt. Heymans Breda was seated as far away from Hawkeye as he could. The man had an irrational fear of the creatures (brought out by the numerous amount of feral dogs that prowled the borders of Ishbal and Amestriss), it had taken almost three sessions to get the man into the room at the same time as Black Hayate.

The last part of the group was Sergent Major Kain Fuery. Fuery was the youngest of the group and, truthfully, his issues hadn't been discovered yet. The man was a seemingly endless source of smiles and was quite content to talk about the rest of the group. To be precise, he shied away from all conversation directed at himself.

So needless to say Mustang was fairly surprised when, half-way through their session, the door to the room swung open. There were two boys, the tallest couldn't have been older than his late teens.

"Ah, I was wondering when you two would arrive. Please, have a seat somewhere." Bradley smiled at the boys and waved them over to the circle.

The taller of the two boys sent a small smile towards Bradley. "I'm really sorry that we're late. We had...trouble...getting out of the house though." He put a hand on the other boys shoulder, Mustang noticed that the grip was tighter than one for comfort, and half-steered him inside and over to a chair.

Bradley waved a hand at the two boys, a pleasent smile on his face. "No, no. It's perfectly fine Alphonse." Bradley glanced around the room, the look on his face one he used whenever he was telling everyone to behave themselves. "Why don't the two of you introduce yourselves real quick?"

"Oh, right!" The taller boy, Alphonse, sent a small smile to the inhabitants of the room. "I'm Alphonse Elric." A pause, Mustang idly noticed that he was frowning at the other boy, before he continued. "This is my brother, Edward."

Frowning, Mustang leaned back in his seat. He, like the rest of the former military personal, wasn't about to welcome these kids in with 'open arms'. Even Breda, the most friendly of all of them, was silent.

Mustang watched Alphonse shift in his seat, clearly uncomfortable, for a few seconds before turning to face Marco. "Alright, what's the deal with the brats?"

"Roy!" Shifting in his seat slightly, Bradley turned and scowled at the former Colonol. "You have no right to be rude like that. No one dema-" He was cut off, mid-scolding, by Edward holding his hand up.

"It's fine. I'm assuming that by 'our deal', you mean why we're here. Right?" Edward's golden eyes slid across the room and landed on Mustang.

He didn't get an answer. Mustang was to busy staring at his eyes. They were piercing, yes, but they didn't have much light in them. It was the sort of eyes that someone who had seen too much death and destruction, the likes of which a child would never have seen.

"Edward and Alphonse are here for the same reasons that you are, Roy." He paused for a moment, a look of thought crossing his face, before motioning to the two boys. "You see, Alphonse is here because their father was a very important man in the military. I'm sure that you've all heard of him. His name was Van Hoenhiem."

Mustang could feel his eyes widen and, much to his distaste, he recognized the fact that he probably looked like everyone else in the room. They were all staring at the two boys, eyes wide and several with their mouths agape, and the two boys were staring right back at them. At least, Edward was. Alphonse was staring at his hands, an awkward air surrounding him.

Eveyone knew about Van Hoenhiem. He was one of the most famous officers to ever join the military. Hoenhiem's work had been the base, not only for the solution that ended the war, but for the strategies that kept most of the troops sent to fight alive. Mustang also knew that he'd died four years ago; the cause of his death had never been released to the public.

As Mustang tore his eyes away from Alphonse, the way that Bradley had worded the statement hit him. Bradley had said that Alphonse, and Alphonse alone, was there because of his relationship to Hoenhiem. He didn't say why Edward was there though. (Not that he really thought either of them should be there. After all, they weren't at a grief counsler or anything) "So why's he here than?"

"Because, Al insisted that I came." Edward scowled at the other boy when he answered, making it clear that he wasn't happy about being there.

Bradley pursed his lips together for a few seconds before letting a smile cross his face again. Mustang recognized the look on his face immideatly; it was the same look that Bradley got on his face when ever they discussed something new. "Actually, Roy, Edward was a Major in the military for..." Bradley paused and tilted his head in the younger boys direction. "Four years wasn't it, Edward?"

Turning from Alphonse, who he had still been glaring at, Edward nodded in Bradley's direction. "Yeah, four years." An almost sardonic smile crossed the younger boys face as he leaned back in his chair, obviously having given up on scowling his brother into letting them leave.

Mustang was about to speak, about to make a snarky comment about the boys age and how he couldn't have been in the military, when Bradley started speaking again. "I've been trying to get them to come and join our little sessions for sometime now," Both boys looked away from the man, "but they've been rather busy with other arrangements."

"I don't mean to interrupt," All eyes snapped to Riza, "but the time is about to end." And, just as she finished speaking, the timer did in fact go off. The blinded woman stood up, Black Hayate's leash on hand, and nodded in Bradley's direction. "If you'll excuse me, I have a bus to catch. Black Hayate, bus station." And the large, black-furred dog faithfully trotted beside her as she walked out the door, not even waiting for Bradley to dismiss them.

Mustang rolled his eyes as Bradley apologized to the two new-comers, both of which merely shrugged them off claiming it was their fault for not coming on time, and stood up himself. "I have to go right away too, Bradley. I'll see you next week." And with that, he walked out of the office.


	2. Interlude

A/N: Sorry that it took so long for this to be put up. The file I had saved to my computer with the plot for the story has been deleted, during one of my computers random spazz-attacks, and I can't remember what the plot was. ^.^' So, instead of another real chapter, you get this interlude.

I would also like to say that this has actually happened to me.

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It wasn't unusual fo him to be awake at ungodly hours of the morning. In fact, Roy Mustang's sleeping schedule was virtually non-existant. He woke when he woke, though there was generally a reason for his abrupt awakenings and it was ususually the same thing, and he slept when he slept.

So needless to say, it wasn't a big surprise when he woke up at three in the morning. What woke him up, however, was.

Normally it was the nightmares, though he didn't think that was the right name for them, that woke him. The smell of blood, thick and metallic and choking; of burning flesh, acrid and stomache churning and soiled. The screams of everyone that had died at his hand and under his orders.

The visions, because that was a better word for them than 'nightmare', came mostly when he slept. They haunted his sleep (to the point that he would wake with the taste of blood in his mouth), but sometimes he saw them during the day too. Less since he'd joined Bradley's group.

But they weren't what woke him.

No. He woke up, at three in the morning, during one of the few peaceful nights he had, because he had a sudden craving for peanut butter. Peanut butter! What sane man woke up in the middle of the night because they wanted peanut butter?

With a sigh, and a glare that should set the bed on fire, Mustang threw his feet over the side of the bed and headed towards the kitchen. His house wasn't very big and it was by no means overly furnished -if anything it was underfurnished- but seeing as he was reluctant to turn the lights on, he was still clutching onto the non-existant hope that he'd be able to go right back to sleep if he didn't, the trip into the kitchen took longer than it usually did. The fact that he was still half-asleep just added to the difficulties.

Three stubbed toes, a banged knee, and almost walking into two different doors later found him slumped over his table eating out of a jar of Jiffy with a spoon. Honestly, this was about the least normal thing to have happened to him in years! It did, however, give him the first real chance that he'd had to think over that days meeting.

The prospect of having a new member added to their little 'group' was not the most appealing thought. It was made even less so by the fact that the new person was just a kid. There was no way that the boy, or his brother, had ever been involved in the war! And there wasn't any other reason for him to be there.

Yet...There was something in the older boys eyes, a look that he was far to accustomed to seeing in his fellow soldiers, that shouldn't have been there.

And it bothered Roy to no end.


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Alright! I'm still alive! And here's another chapter! Though most people probably aren't reading this anymore...That doesn't really matter to me though. See, I finally got my muse back for this story and thought up a relativly decent plot! The best part is, after the next chapter, that plot starts to unroll! Slowly, but it's there! Yay!

* * *

Exactly two weeks had passed since the Elric brother's first came to the therapy sessions. At the last meeting, much to Roy's annoyance, neither of them showed up. There was no mention of them either, save for a brief 'they won't be attending today' from Bradley.

Roy thought it was rediculous.

They had already disturbed the setting once, ruined the order that had been placed upon the meeting's that everyone (himself included, though he wouldn't say that out loud) relied on to get through the rest of their week, and then they hadn't even bothered to show up. Almost ten minutes had gone by at this meeting and neither had shown up. Again.

Mustang sighed through his nose, more than a little annoyed, when the door swung open in the middle of Breda talking (complaining) about his new neighbor's doberman. The heavy-set man was more than a little upset over it, especially seeing as there was no fence and little yard between their houses. He'd barely left his house since the family, the Joneses, moved in four days ago. Almost skipped the meeting too, because the dog was out in it's yard.

The conversation stilled though as the door opened, once again revealing the two blonds. Today, though, the shorter of the two didn't seem as reluctant to come in.

"I'm really sorry we're late, Mr. Bradley. We had some...trouble...on our way out." Alphonse's mouth pulled back in a small, tight smile. It was obviously forced, especially seeing as it fell away moments after it was plastered there.

Shrugging his brother's hand off his shoulder, Edward stalked across the room to the chair he had sat in the last time he was there; one that placed him directly across from Roy. "Stop apologizin' Al. I told you it wasn't your fault."

The taller of the two tilted his head down slightly, light blond bangs falling in front of his eyes, as he crossed the room to sit beside his brother. Roy could swear he saw the boy limping. Before he was able to say anything on the matter though, Bradley had sent everyone one of his famous no-worries smiles and had started the talk back up.

"It's not a problem, boys. Maybe after Breda here finishes what he was saying, you two can tell us about what made you run late and kept you away last time?" Bradley questioned, eyes gliding from the Elric brothers back over to said former Second Lt.

The amusement that had been sparked when they first came back into his room dissapeared when Breda sunk back into his chair, arms crossed over his chest, and shook his head. "Nah, 'm fine. They can go on and talk if they went." And it was obvious that he wasn't going to say another word about his dog-troubles with the two newbies around.

Bradley's smile didn't even flicker. Roy assumed that he'd long gotten used to every one closing up on the smallest whim, sometimes going so far as not uttering a single word in over several meetings. "Alright. So, what happened that you two were late, Alphonse? Nothing's wrong, is it?"

Alphonse squirmed in his seat as everyone's gaze, save Riza's unseeing one, swung onto him. "N-no sir, nothing was wrong. I just fell asleep and brother didn't wake me up." He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand nervously as he spoke, something Roy could tell right away was a nervous tick of the boy's.

He could also tell that there was something not quite true about what he was saying. It didn't sound like a lie but there was just this _thing_ nibbling at the edges of Roy's mind. Something that just didn't add up the right way. Which, really, he scolded himself, made no sense because all the kid had said was that he had 'overslept'.

"Last week was my fault." Edward threw in casually. There wasn't any further explanation from the short-statured boy. Instead, he just shoved one hand in the pocket of his rather baggy looking black pants and leaned back in his seat.

After that, silence reighned over the room. Bradley seemed content to just let the group work the kinks out without his guidance.

Roy was pretty sure that their host (not a councler, because he didn't actually need therapy) found it all horribly amusing.

As the silence wore on, the air in the room got heavier; thick with the tension everyone was no doubt feeling. If the others felt anything like Roy did, it was that they didn't want this stranger to hear all of their secrets without first divulging some of his own.

Several minutes passed before Riza let out an irritated sigh and leaned foreward in her seat. "This is ridiculous." She turned her head in the general direction of the Elric's chairs, after frowning at where she _knew_ Roy was sitting, and nodded at them once. "I have to apologize for my companions. They aren't the most sharing or trusting bunch."

Roy snorted softly to himself. It wasn't like she was a bundle of trust either. The sniper hadn't exactly been an open book when their little get-togethers started, after all.

"It's fine, ma'am. Brother's probably just as bad as they are, and it's not really like I can blame any of them." That small, tight smile had flitted onto Alphonse's face again. "Although, that might be unfair to everyone else here." The smile lightened considerably and laughter sparkled to life in the taller boy's eyes. "My brother can be really immature sometimes."

"Hey!" The golden haired boy jerked in his chair, swinging his head around to scowl at his younger brother. "Who're you calling immature, Al? You're the one that keeps bringing home all those stray animals!"

"Because they need a home, Ed!" Alphonse crossed his arms over his chest, the slightly baggy purple tee-shirt he was wearing rumpling underneath of them. A small pout formed on his face, though even Roy could tell he was just teasing the older boy.

And just like that, tension was broken and everyone seemed ready to talk. Not about anything big, nothing revealing. No. But they were at least willing to give the new comers a chance to open up to them first.


End file.
